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Despite the rising attendance figures it seems there are those high up at the ECB who do not want the Blast to succeed

George Dobell28-Aug-2015At first glance, T20 Finals Day, one of the showpiece events of the domestic season, should be a day of celebration.For the second year in succession, the tournament has attracted record numbers of spectators. Across much of the country, attendance and revenues are up by 20%. But does the ECB want you to know that? Does the ECB want you to think of the NatWest Blast as a success? Or would that complicate its plans to replace it with a city-based competition?Is it possible that – ridiculous though it sounds – some at the ECB might want the NatWest Blast to fail?For behind the scenes this season has seen an increasingly bitter fight being waged for control of the game. On one side we have the new ECB executive team – the likes of chief executive, Tom Harrison, and commercial director, Sanjay Patel – while on the other we have the bulk of the counties.That is confusing in itself because the ECB is supposed to represent the counties. It is supposed to amalgamate their interests in a cooperative body. But, as the season has progressed, it has been increasingly obvious that there is a clash of cultures between the new ECB executive and a majority of the counties whose interests they are charged with protecting.The new ECB management, led by chairman Colin Graves, had high hopes of reorganising the domestic schedule. With the best of intentions, they hoped to wrestle with problems that have affected county cricket for decades. They hoped to cut the number of games to allow more time for rest, recovery and practice and to play the white-ball game in blocks, with players and coaches believing this allows them to concentrate on skill development and helps prevent injuries.Most of all, they wanted to develop a domestic T20 tournament that generated substantial revenue and increased the reach of the game far beyond the scope of the current competition.To that end – and in the finest traditions of county cricket – a committee was formed: the county and international playing programme review (CIPPR). It was given three aims: improve the standard, make more money and increase cricket’s popularity.There were many eye-catching discussions. There was talk of starting the season in March in the UAE or Caribbean, there was talk of city-based teams playing 50-over cricket, talk of playing each tournament in a window, talk of cutting the Championship schedule to 12 games per team, talk of inviting three more teams (including Ireland and Scotland) to play in the Championship and much, much more besides.Most of this has now fallen by the wayside, with administrators possibly fearing a drain of money away from the county game.The most contentious plan of all involved the future of domestic T20 cricket. The ECB executive’s contention was that, to maximise revenues, the game required a new-look tournament based on the Big Bash model and centred around eight city-based team. Broadcasters, they said, had little interest in the current tournament.But as the CIPPR continued its work, they began to draw different conclusions. They found – and it should be said they are not due to make their proposals until next week – that, while city-based cricket would bring benefits, it would also bring problems. They found that counties would not be happy to sit out the new-look T20 competition, however much the ECB promised to compensate them, and they found that, actually, broadcasters could be enticed by the competition in very similar form to its composition now.The ECB executive, frustrated at what they saw as the caution of the committee, decided to press on. They drew up plans for a new tournament, based around eight city teams and probably starting early as 2017. The games would have been played in July (pretty much every day of the month), they would have been televised and there was hope that more of the best international and current England players would be available. Broadcasters reacted favourably to the proposals.

The desire to play in a block is understandable but it has been tried before. It left the competition at the mercy of the weather and asked spectators to spend heavily in a condensed period of time

But, just as Harrison prepared to put this to the ECB board the counties – or a majority of counties, anyway – made it clear that of he did so, he would not win their support. Instead, his position – and that of Graves – could become untenable. A rebellion was a real possibility.So Harrison and Graves took a step back. They came to a realisation, like many of their predecessors, that change in county cricket could not be hurried and assured the counties there would be no changes ahead of the new TV deal in 2020.They continued to work on the plans, though. As recently as last week, there were those in ECB management who thought they could present their plans for a new-look County Championship, incorporating eight teams in the top division and 10 in the second playing 14 games each, for the 2016 season at a board meeting this September.That would have meant that those clubs who had spent the year fighting for promotion – notably Surrey and Lancashire – might have faced the prospect of being told they had to remain in the lower division, while clubs who have fought to avoid relegation – the likes of Worcestershire, Hampshire and Sussex – could be told that, to accommodate the smaller top division, they would have to be relegated anyway. It would, in short, have made a mockery of the competition.At the last minute, however, Harrison again realised the board would not back such a proposal. Perhaps stung by the feedback following a revealing interview on the BBC’s Test Match Special on the first day of the final Investec Ashes Test – several counties were alarmed by what they heard and quickly made their feelings known – the ECB released a statement to ESPNcricinfo confirming that no substantive changes would be made to domestic competitions ahead of the 2016 season. It is a statement which is hard to square with the draft fixture lists which were prepared.Which brings us back to the original question: does everyone in the ECB – or even at Sky – want the NatWest Blast to succeed in its current form? And, if so, why have they not celebrated the growing attendances? Why did they block ESPNcricinfo showing highlights, provided by counties from footage that had already been made available on club websites? Why do they talk about it so negatively, as if it is so in need of change, despite its growth?One answer would be that if the public perception of the competition is poor, it will render it easier to change it. It will diminish the power of the counties and make it easier for the ECB and Sky to bring in the competition they want.The counties’ reluctance for change is understandable. Domestic cricket is two years into a four-year plan for T20 growth that seems to be working – in terms of higher spectator figures at grounds – and while it is accepted that work is required for county cricket to remain relevant, there is a strong argument that suggests evolution (such as the T20 tournament starting four weeks later in the season to coincide with the school holidays or the introduction of two divisions) might prove as beneficial as revolution, but without the potentially damaging consequences.While the desire to play in a block is understandable – in terms of signing the best overseas players and raising standards – it has been tried before. It left the competition at the mercy of the weather and asked spectators to spend heavily in a condensed period of time rather than spreading the cost across the season. It was abandoned for good reasons.Flame still burns: Overall attendances for the NatWest Blast have risen year on year•Getty ImagesThe predictability of the current fixture list – with many games on Friday nights but enough scope to alter that where beneficial – has been a success. And a quick assessment of some of this year’s overseas players – Chris Gayle, Glenn Maxwell, Brendon McCullum, Shahid Afridi, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene and others – suggests the counties are managing to secure the top talent pretty well. The lack of Indian names might be relevant in terms of attracting a global TV audience, but there is some doubt as to whether the BCCI would allow its players to participate whatever the shape of the competition.The counties’ concern is that one of the aims – increasing the revenue – seems to have taken precedence over the other two: improving the standard and increasing the popularity of the game. And, while the counties are keen for that extra revenue – the cost of redeveloping stadiums around the country means that they owe an accumulated sum of somewhere around £170m – the ECB already has reserves of £70m.Which led to the conclusion that it is not money the game needs most urgently; it is exposure. However good Sky’s coverage – and few who see coverage elsewhere around the world would disagree that it is exceptional – there is a problem with its reach as it is behind a paywall. If cricket is to grow, it needs to reach a bigger audience. It needs to be – or some of it needs to be – on free-to-air TV.So, when the next package of broadcast deals is put to the market – perhaps 18 months from now – it seems highly likely there will be an option for free-to-air broadcasters to get involved. It is understood that, right now, there is more interest from some traditional names than there has been for some time and that at least one is particularly attracted by a competition that occupies the window between football seasons. So while the situation remains fluid, the prospect of city-based cricket (the more accurate term to describe what is often referred to as franchise cricket) is more distant than it has been for a few years.Where does this leave Harrison and co? Wiser and weaker, probably. He joined the ECB with big plans to stamp his authority on the game but may have come to the conclusion that the counties will not be paid off or intimidated. There remains a huge role for him in arranging the next package of broadcast deals, improving the strength of the county game and running the Champions Trophy in 2017 and the World Cup in 2019. But if he insists on trying to force through a city-based T20 competition, it is hard to see how he can survive.There is scope for improvement in domestic T20 cricket, for sure. But let us not forget: it was the 18-team county game that gave birth to the professional T20 game and the 18-team county game that has grown by 20% in the past year. It does not have to be the shape of other T20 tournaments to succeed. There is plenty to celebrate on T20 Finals Day.

Sanjay Manjrekar looks at the key points from the first day of the second Test between India and South Africa in Bangalore

14-Nov-2015‘Brave call by Kohli to field’
Having won the toss, Virat Kohli chose to field, which was described as a risky yet “brave call” by Sanjay Manjrekar. India left out Amit Mishra for an extra seam-bowling option in Stuart Binny but R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja combined to take nine wickets between them. .1:17

Manjrekar: Brave call by Kohli to field

‘Du Plessis’ failure hurting South Africa’
South Africa were intimidated by spin and their batsmen’s footwork wasn’t confident enough as exemplified by Faf du Plessis’ struggles at No. 3.1:52

Manjrekar: Du Plessis’ failures hurting South Africa

‘India spinners should be proud of their performance’
R Ashwin looped the ball beautifully and deceived batsmen in flight while Ravindra Jadeja found enough turn to spin South Africa out for 214.1:42

Manjrekar: Spinners should be proud of their performance

‘The way AB de Villiers plays spin is remarkable’
Even though his partners failed, AB de Villiers stood up to the spinners and showed intent by jumping down the pitch. But then, he was dismissed 15 shy of a century in his 100th Test.2:02

Manjrekar: The way AB de Villiers plays spin is remarkable

‘Not convinced of Binny as a Test allrounder’
Motivated by the conditions, India may have gone overboard by picking a bits-and-pieces player in Stuart Binny ahead of Rohit Sharma.1:34

Manjrekar: Not convinced of Binny as Test all rounder

‘Dhawan’s discipline impressive’
Shikhar Dhawan restrained himself, not chasing balls outside off, and showed application with M Vijay to give India a solid platform.1:04

Manjrekar: Dhawan’s discipline impressive

Spin dominated the numbers in New Zealand’s superb 47-run win against india in Nagpur

S Rajesh15-Mar-20161:12

Chappell: I like Santner as a cricketer

1 Instances of New Zealand successfully defending a total lower than 126 in a T20I. The only such game was in Lauderhill against Sri Lanka, when New Zealand scored 120 and restricted Sri Lanka to 92. It’s the lowest target that India haven’t successfully chased down in a 20-over game.79 India’s total, their second-lowest all-out total in a T20I; their lowest is 74, against Australia in Melbourne in 2008.47 The margin of victory, India’s second-largest margin of defeat in T20Is. It is also the second highest when defending a total of 130 or lower. The only bigger margin was when Sri Lanka scored 119 and bowled New Zealand out for 60 in a World T20 game in 2014.5 Consecutive wins for New Zealand against India in T20Is. In matches between the top eight teams, there is only one sequence of more successive defeats: New Zealand lost six in a row against England between 2008 and 2013. Australia have also lost five in a row against Sri Lanka, and against India.This was only the third instance of spinners taking nine wickets in a T20I innings•ESPNcricinfo Ltd9 Wickets for spin in the Indian innings, which equals the record for the most wickets by spinners in a T20I innings. There have been only two previous instances: by Zimbabwe against Canada, and by Sri Lanka against Zimbabwe. India had never lost more than five wickets to spin before today’s match, and neither had New Zealand’s spinners taken more than five in a T20I.61 India’s score after 15 overs, their lowest ever in a T20I. Their previous lowest after 15 was 62, against Australia in Melbourne in 2008.4/11 Mitchell Santner’s bowling figures, the third best for a New Zealand bowler in a T20I, and the best by a New Zealand spinner.80.95 Corey Anderson’s strike rate in his 34 off 42 balls. It’s the lowest strike rate among all innings of 25 or more by New Zealand batsmen in a T20I.9 Number of consecutive T20Is in which India have taken at least two wickets in the Powerplays. Ashish Nehra has played eight of those games, and has taken at least one Powerplay wicket in each of those eight matches.3.75 Jasprit Bumrah’s economy rate in this match, the fifth time in 12 games that he has conceded fewer than five an over.5.93 Bumrah’s career economy rate. Among the 120 bowlers from the top ten teams who have bowled at least 40 overs in T20Is, only three bowlers have better economy rates -Samuel Badree, Sunil Narine, and Daniel Vettori.4 Number of times Suresh Raina has bowled four overs in a T20I; in three previous instances, the fewest he had conceded was 24. Among the 19 instances when he has bowled in a T20I, only twice has he achieved a better economy rate: against Sri Lanka a month ago in Visakhapatnam, when he bowled two overs for six runs, and against South Africa in Cuttack.

A look at how the six teams in the 2016 WCL Division Five stack up before the tournament gets underway in Jersey

Peter Della Penna in Jersey20-May-2016Eight years ago, the World Cricket League promotion and relegation tournament system for Associate and Affiliate nations was in its infancy as 12 teams descended on Jersey to take part in the first-ever Division Five tournament. Afghanistan, at that time a little-known cricket team who had played their first ever men’s international fixture in 2004, took the Associate world by storm in gaining the first of three consecutive promotions on the way to achieving ODI status. Less than a decade later, they claimed the biggest notch in their belt after they beat eventual title-winners West Indies in the World T20 2016.Afghanistan’s success story is a source of inspiration for all six teams returning to the setting of that unlikeliest of dramas when the 2016 World Cricket League Division Five kicks off on Saturday. Joining the host nation Jersey are their inter-island rival Guernsey, African sides Nigeria and Tanzania, south-Pacific island nation Vanuatu, and Oman, who beat Ireland at the 2016 World T20.Oman (fifth place at 2014 WCL Division Four)A little less than a year after a surprising run through the World T20 Qualifier in Ireland and Scotland, Oman’s return to the British Isles adds some spice to the event as they try to kickstart their 50-over World Cup-qualification journey. The cold and wet conditions expected on the island may be a far cry from the dry and hot weather back in the Arabian Peninsula, but their dramatic win over Ireland in Dharamsala this past March has resulted in the other five teams in Division Five drawing a bullseye on Oman.Though Oman’s recent rise in the T20 ranks has been rapid, they have undergone a steady decline in 50-over cricket since 2009. Effectively in Division One after winning all five games in the group stage at Division Two in 2007 to gain promotion alongside UAE, they then finished last in their group at the 2009 World Cup Qualifier and followed it with relegation from Division Three in 2013 and Division Four in 2014. Oman will hope that the confidence taken from their shortest-format performances in the last 12 months will help reverse that trend.They will have to achieve that without the services of their most capped player, Sultan Ahmed, who was not picked for this tournament with Ajay Lalcheta taking over as captain. Two of the bigger names missing in action are batting allrounder Amir Ali and batsman Adnan Ilyas. Amir, the Man of the Match in the win over Ireland, suffered a broken hand in Oman’s domestic competition and could not recover in time. It means a greater burden will be placed on Aamir Kaleem and Zeeshan Maqsood to come through with both bat and ball.Jersey (sixth place at 2014 WCL Division Four)Jersey will be aiming for déjà vu after gaining promotion twice while hosting – Division Five in 2008 and Division Six in 2013 – to offset the disappointment of relegation from Division Four at Malaysia in 2014. Captain Peter Gough has been a reliable contributor over the years, finishing as the team’s runs leader in three of Jersey’s seven previous WCL tournaments. He also spearheaded their nine-wicket takedown of Hong Kong at the World T20 Qualifier in Bready with 81 not out.However, more of the team’s recent overall fortunes in 50-over cricket have been linked to Ben Stevens. The left-arm spinning allrounder was Player of the Tournament at the 2013 Division Six and 2014 Division Five, when Jersey went undefeated on both occasions. Stevens took 17 wickets in the 2013 tournament and scored 403 runs at 67.16, including five half-centuries in the 2014 tournament. But, at the 2014 Division Four in Singapore, he scraped together just 136 runs with a best of 37 and took only four wickets at an average of 60.25 as the team finished last on the points table.Jersey’s trump card, though, is batsman Jonty Jenner. The 18-year-old finished fourth on the run charts of the World T20 qualifiers last year with 210 runs at 52.50. A Sussex-contracted player, he has had a handful of appearances for their second XI. In his only two prior WCL appearances, he showed decent promise with 176 runs at 29.33 and one half-century but is primed for a bigger output after his breakthrough showing in 2015.Tanzania (third place at 2014 WCL Division Five)Tanzania have remained relatively stagnant throughout the history of the World Cricket League. At home in 2008 and in Italy in 2010, they stayed put in Division Four after mediocre showings. They did spring a shock upset over Nepal in Italy by defending 117. However, they were relegated in 2012 after going winless in the group stage.Three wins in 2014 ensured they would stay in Division Five for at least one more tournament, but they are the most vulnerable for relegation back into the regional qualifying competition since there is no longer a Division Six tournament. The absence of allrounder Benson Mwita is a big setback to their chances of staying afloat. It means added expectations from allrounder Kassim Nassoro.Nigeria (fourth place at 2014 WCL Division Five)Nigeria are one of the most promising nations in the Associate world with tremendous growth over the last several years. They gained two consecutive promotions from Division Seven and Six in 2013, before staying put in Division Five after a fourth-place finish in 2014.Eager to return to Jersey will be medium-pacer Oluseye Olympio, who finished as the leading wicket-taker at Division Six in 2013 with 18 scalps at 10.61. Joshua Ogunlola won’t allow much pressure to build from the opposite end either. He took a tournament-best 17 wickets at Division Seven in 2013 and team-best 11 at Division Five in 2014.On the batting side, the bulk of the runs are expected from Segun Olayinka and Olajide Bejide. The 30-year-old Bejide was the team’s leading scorer at Division Five in 2014, including a century against Tanzania.Guernsey (second place at 2015 WCL Division Six)Guernsey arrive after gaining promotion from Division Six in Essex last September. Their chances of pushing Jersey or Oman for a spot in the promotion slots is enhanced by their familiarity with conditions. Going against them, though, is the memory of their horrid performance at Division Five in 2014, when they went winless in the group stage.At the time, Guernsey were still trying to find their feet after the retirement of Jeremy Frith, one of the biggest scorers in the history of the World Cricket League, and the scoring drop-off was significant. Stepping up to fill that hole now is Matthew Stokes, who finished as the leading run-getter at the 2015 Division Six as a 19-year-old with 241 runs, including a best of 135 not out against Botswana.Vanuatu (third place at 2015 WCL Division Six)Vanuatu round off the tournament field, gaining entry despite a third-place finish at Division Six due to the withdrawal of Suriname after the South American side were found to have used multiple ineligible players. Vanuatu were in the original Division Five in 2008 but a last-place finish in the group stages ensured they dropped all the way down to Division Eight.They stayed there in 2010 before gaining promotion in 2012 and again out of Division Seven in 2013 when they went undefeated in the group stage before losing the final to Nigeria. Their climb back up the Associate ladder coincided with the senior-team debut of teenage phenomenon Nalin Nipiko. The allrounder made 213 runs at 53.25 and took seven wickets as a 16-year-old at Division Eight in Samoa in 2012 and has continued to make strides.Captain and batting mainstay Andrew Mansale was the team’s leading scorer on both prior visits to Jersey in 2008 and 2013, with a total of 365 runs at 33.18, including a century against Bahrain. Joshua Rasu bolsters the batting depth, having made 222 runs at 55.50 in Division Six while Patrick Matautaava spearheads the bowling unit.

Stats review of IPL 2016, in which openers and captains had a great run, but spinners struggled

Bharath Seervi30-May-2016Click here for full graphic – Kohli and Warner’s big year41-19 Win-loss record of teams chasing in this IPL. This is the first season where the teams batting second won more than twice the number of matches than teams batting first. The previous best season for chasing sides was 2014, when the win-loss ratio was 1.681, compared to 2.157 this year.81.67 Percentage of matches in which teams elected to field after winning the toss in this IPL, higher than any of the previous seasons. IPL 2014 had 68.33%, the previous best. Of 60 matches this season, teams chose to field in 49. In the remaining 11 games, a team opting to bat won only twice. Sunrisers Hyderabad were the only team to win after choosing to bat, beating Rising Pune Supergiants in the league stage and Royal Challengers Bangalore in the final.28.36 Average runs scored per wicket in this IPL, the best among all nine seasons. The average was 26.72 last season and 28.18 in 2014. The overall run rate of 8.31 in this IPL was the second best; IPL 2015 had 8.37.0 Previous instances of a team topping the league stage with a negative net run rate. Gujarat Lions finished first with a NRR of -0.374. Their NRR was also the worst for a team finishing in the top four across all seasons.45.18 Batting average of captains in this IPL. The next best in previous seasons was 33.93 in 2015. They also had the highest strike rate (137.64), and hit the most 50+ scores (38) and sixes (124). They scored 21.88% of all runs scored by batsmen this season. Four of the top six run-getters were captains.34.40 Average of opening batsmen in this IPL, the highest for any season. Their strike rate of 133.54 is also the best. IPL 2015 was the only other season in which openers averaged more than 30 – 31.40. Of the nine batsmen who scored over 400 runs this season, eight were openers.40.57 Bowling average of left-arm spinners in this IPL, the poorest in all seasons. The previous low was in the first season (35.32), when only 108 overs were bowled by left-arm spinners compared to 320 overs this season. The only left-arm spinner to take more than 10 wickets this season was Axar Patel, who took 13 wickets including the only hat-trick of IPL 2016. The average of all spinners (34.47) was also the worst in any season, beating 31.35 in 2012.973 Virat Kohli’s aggregate in IPL 2016, the highest not only in the IPL but in any T20 tournament. Both Kohli and David Warner, who scored 848 runs, broke the previous record of 733 held by Chris Gayle (IPL 2012) and Michael Hussey (IPL 2013).468 Runs scored by Warner while chasing in this IPL, the most in a single season. He went past Robin Uthappa’s 457 runs in 2014.687 Runs scored by AB de Villiers in this IPL, the most by a non-opener in a season. The previous highest was 578 by Kohli in 2013. De Villiers averaged 52.84 and had a strike rate of 168.79. Of his tally this season, 683 runs came at No. 3. The next highest run-getter at No.3 in this IPL was Suresh Raina, who scored 375. The average of the No.3 batsmen for seven teams, apart from Royal Challengers, was only 27.39 compared to 56.53 for Royal Challengers.1 Number of spinners who featured in the top ten wicket-takers in this IPL. Legspinner Yuzvendra Chahal was the second highest wicket-taker in IPL 2016 with 21 wickets. He has been the highest wicket-taker for Royal Challengers in successive seasons – 23 wickets in 2015 and 21 this season – and is the only uncapped India player with 20 or more wickets in two IPL seasons.13 Wickets by the Purple Cap-winner Bhuvneshwar Kumar in the end overs (16th to 20th) – joint highest with Shane Watson this season. Bhuvneshwar took 10 wickets in the Powerplays and no wickets in the three overs he bowled in the middle period, finishing with 23 wickets.14 Wickets taken by Dhawal Kulkarni in the Powerplays, the most in this IPL. Across all seasons, only two bowlers have more wickets in the Powerplays – Mitchell Johnson (16) and Mohit Sharma (15), both in 2013. Mustafizur Rahman had the best economy rate – 4.93 – in the Powerplays this season among those who bowled at least 15 overs.

England’s selectors have picked character more than numbers with a recall for Gary Ballance for the first Test against Pakistan

Andrew McGlashan07-Jul-2016England’s selectors seemingly had two paths they could follow in filling the vacancy in the batting order for the first Test against Pakistan. They could have gone the x-factor route – throw convention out the window and recall Jos Buttler based on his limited-overs form – or reward heavy scoring in the County Championship.In the end they have done neither. Instead, they have recalled Gary Ballance who is now set to return to Test cricket for the first time since last year’s Ashes but in the middle order rather than at No. 3.Timing certainly appears to be everything. This week Ballance made 132 against a Middlesex attack that – it turns out – included two members of the Test squad, Steven Finn and Toby Roland-Jones, which followed 78 against Durham the match before. Scott Borthwick, heavily tipped a few weeks ago, made his third single-figure score in his last three Championship innings.Still, Borthwick has 585 runs at 58.50 with three hundreds this season and Ballance 471 runs at 33.64. Ballance was the spare batsman in South Africa, but he was not deemed ready for a recall against Sri Lanka earlier this season, instead James Vince filling the middle-order spot created by James Taylor’s retirement.Selection, though, is more than about the numbers on a page. “What he does have is that hard edge,” Alastair Cook said. “Gary is mentally strong,” added national selector James Whitaker. That cannot be doubted. On debut he stood up to Mitchell Johnson’s pace at the SCG and in his next Test, against Sri Lanka at Lord’s, reached his maiden century with a six in the final over of the day.Blooding an uncapped batsman against Pakistan’s attack would have brought its own risks; this was the conundrum England had left themselves after the gamble to stick with Nick Compton – while it was not without reason – backfired as he limped through the Sri Lanka series. Ballance knows the Test game and should not be overawed by the occasion; a test of technique more so than temperament.And it was not as though the runs had completely dried up when he was left out after the second Test against Australia last summer. The match before, he made a vital 61 on the opening day in Cardiff, in a potentially series-defining partnership, to help England recover from their early wobble and set up what would be a match-winning total.Yet nagging doubts remain, particularly because of the make-up of Pakistan’s attack. It was the full length and late movement of New Zealand’s Trent Boult which began Ballance’s problems – removing him three times in four innings – and over the next few weeks he will face Mohammad Amir and, most likely, Wahab Riaz which will provide him with a similar challenge.The selectors could have reinvented the thinking of Test selection by recalling Buttler without any first-class cricket since October but ultimately have stuck with convention and decided he needs some red-ball matches. Even with this squad there are rumblings about the value of County Championship runs with the leading scorers around the country ignored, so skipping the system completely would have raised further questions. The narrative now divides with the spotlight remaining on Jonny Bairstow’s glovework while Buttler returns to domestic cricket for Lancashire.Trevor Bayliss has got his way over the No. 3 spot with Joe Root being elevated. “He would want to do it,” Bayliss said a few days ago. Alastair Cook revealed he had a few beers with Root after the Sri Lanka series and that he was keen to make the move. There is no reason why Root, one of the most adaptable batsmen in the world, should not be able to make a success of first drop. It makes more sense for him to be there than Vince, who had a lean series against Sri Lanka and could soon be the under-pressure batsman in the side.But there remains a sense of uncertainty around the Test top order. In the last four series there have been significant changes; Ballance dropped in the Ashes, Bairstow for Buttler in the UAE, Compton and Taylor in for South Africa, Vince called up against Sri Lanka and now back to Ballance. England will hope that by the end of this series there is a bit more clarity, although Amir and Yasir Shah may have something to say about that.

Also: most runs scored in a Test, South Africa’s summer in August

Steven Lynch23-Aug-2016In 2004-05, India defended a target of 106 against Australia, eventually winning by 13 runs. Was this the lowest target successfully defended in any Test match? asked Lakshmi Narayanan from India

Australia’s target on that turning track in Mumbai in November 2004 was actually 107, but they were all out for 93, so lost by 13 runs. There have been two lower targets in Tests that were not reached by the team batting fourth. In Port-of-Spain in 1999-2000, Zimbabwe needed just 99 to defeat West Indies for the first time – but were skittled for 63, with Curtly Ambrose taking 3 for 8 and Franklyn Rose 4 for 19. They have still never beaten West Indies in a Test. But the lowest of all came in the famous match at The Oval in 1882, which spawned the Ashes. England needed just 85 to beat Australia – but, with Fred “The Demon” Spofforth taking 7 for 44, England collapsed for 77 to lose by seven runs.I heard that Mitchell Starc was the fastest to reach 100 wickets in ODIs. Whose record did he beat? asked Jared Homerton from Australia

Mitchell Starc took his 100th wicket – Dhananjaya de Silva of Sri Lanka – in his 52nd one-day international, at the SSC in Colombo last week. He was one game quicker to the landmark than the Pakistan offspinner Saqlain Mushtaq, who reached 100 in May 1997. The New Zealander Shane Bond took 54 matches, and Brett Lee of Australia 55. Next comes Imran Tahir of South Africa (58 matches), just ahead of Morne Morkel, Irfan Pathan and Waqar Younis (all 59). The slowest to 100 ODI wickets were Sourav Ganguly and Tillakaratne Dilshan, who both got there in their 311th games.Mitchell Starc took 24 wickets in the three Tests in Sri Lanka – but Australia lost the lot. Was this the record for a losing three-Test series? asked Tushar Mukherjee from the United States

The record in this regard was set in an earlier Sri Lanka-Australia series. Back in March 2004, Muttiah Muralitharan took 28 wickets – but Australia, in their first series under new captain Ricky Ponting, won all three Tests, despite conceding a first-innings lead in all of them. Charles “Buck” Llewellyn took 25 wickets for South Africa in the three-Test home series against Australia in 1902-03, but the Aussies won that one 2-0, with one draw.At The Oval in 1882, Australia successfully defended a target of 85 runs•Getty ImagesWas Alzarri Joseph the first debutant to bag a pair in Tests? asked Neeraj Nayak from India

West Indies’ promising 19-year-old fast bowler Alzarri Joseph was indeed dismissed without scoring in both innings of his first Test, against India in St Lucia earlier this month. But he’s in good company: Joseph was actually the 41st debutant to suffer this fate in a Test. The previous one was another West Indian, opener Rajendra Chandrika (who played in the first two matches of this series against India, but missed Joseph’s debut). Chandrika made nought in each innings of his first match, against Australia in Kingston last year. The list includes some famous names, notably Graham Gooch (1975), Ken Rutherford (1985-86), Marvan Atapattu and Saeed Anwar (both 1990-91).Was the aggregate record for runs set in the Leeds Test of 1948? asked AK Srivastava from India

There were 1723 runs scored (for the loss of 31 wickets) in the Test you are talking about – the fourth one of the 1948 Ashes series at Headingley, won by Don Bradman’s Invincibles, who famously scored 404 for 3 on the final day. That was a record for a five-day Test at the time, but it was overhauled in Adelaide in 1968-69, when Australia and West Indies shared 1764 runs. There have been two higher aggregates in timeless Test matches. In Kingston in 1929-30, West Indies and England amassed 1815 runs, but the overall record was set in the ten-day Test in Durban in 1938-39, when South Africa and England piled up 1981 runs between them (England were 654 for 5, chasing 696, when the match had to be abandoned). For the full list of the highest Test run aggregates, click here.Have South Africa ever staged Test matches in August before? asked Danie Strydom from South Africa

The opening encounter against New Zealand in Durban, which started on August 19, was easily the earliest that a Test match had been played in the South African “summer”. There have never been any Tests in South Africa in September either. The previous earliest was the first Test of the 1902-03 series against Australia – who were on the way back from an England tour – which started in Johannesburg on October 11, 1902. At the other end of their summer South Africa have played only one home Test in May – the third one against New Zealand in Johannesburg in 2006. That match was over in three days, and finished on May 7. The previous Test, in Cape Town, ended on May 1.Send in your questions using our feedback form.

ESPNcricinfo staff02-Nov-2016He was solid as he brought up his fifty and stretched his overnight partnership with Sarfraz Ahmed to 86…•Getty Images… Before Sarfraz chased a wide delivery and nicked it to slip•AFPBut wickets were in general hard to come by for West Indies, as Pakistan steadily stretched their lead with five wickets still intact•Getty ImagesThen Devendra Bishoo then came into the attack and got rid of Mohammad Nawaz to open the doors for a collapse…•Getty Images… which included the soft dismissal of Azhar Ali for 91…•Getty Images… And a comical run out of Mohammad Amir that began with this spectacular effort by Roston Chase on the long-on boundary•Getty ImagesThat reduced them from 175 for 5 to 193 for 9•Getty ImagesJason Holder then completed his first five-wicket haul to bowl Pakistan out for 208, leaving West Indies only 153 to get their first win under his captaincy•AFPWest Indies were aided by two dropped catches off Mohammad Amir’s bowling and went in to tea at 23 for no loss•Getty ImagesBut it was the Yasir Shah show after that•Getty ImagesHe picked up three wickets, including those of Darren Bravo and Marlon Samuels•Getty ImagesBefore Wahab Riaz took two wickets in consecutive overs and West Indies fell to 67 for 5•Getty ImagesBut Kraigg Brathwaite was solid once again even as his team collapsed around him•AFPHe scored 44* and put on 47 with Shane Dowrich (36*) to take West Indies to stumps on 114 for 5, with 39 to get on the final day•Getty Images

Previously unpublished material reveals the anguish he felt about being made the man to blame for the decision to let the club’s long-serving West Indian stars go

David Hopps18-Jan-2017The civil war that beset Somerset cricket more than 30 years ago was all the more remarkable because of the unimposing, bespectacled figure at its centre. Peter Roebuck would not have immediately struck a casual observer as a man capable of going to war. An unconventional loner, gauche even with close friends, he did not meld easily with either the old-fashioned administrators in charge of the club or the imposing superstars, Ian Botham, Viv Richards and Joel Garner, who would eventually be expunged from a Somerset dressing room that had fallen on hard times.The conflict that took hold of the sleepy market town of Taunton throughout the summer of 1986 dominated the sports pages in a way that now is hard to imagine. Until now, it has only been possible to hazard a guess at Roebuck’s state of mind as he became the principal hate figure for rebel supporters who were campaigning against the county’s decision to release their great, long-serving West Indians, Richards and Garner and, as a consequence, accept the ensuing departure of Ian Botham in protest.Previously unpublished diaries, which were not made available to the authors of the excellent in 2015, have now revealed the full extent of Roebuck’s mental anguish. Condemned by his critics, increasingly reviled by Botham in a rift that would last a lifetime, and often left to flounder by Somerset’s archaic administration, he presents himself as an honourable man who made his choice and forever fretted over the consequences.”Lots of people are asking about my health,” he writes as Somerset’s warfare reaches its height. “I suspect they are waiting for a crack-up.” Somerset comfortably won the vote to let go of Richards and Garner at an emergency meeting at Shepton Mallet in November 1986, and Roebuck took the spoils, but his life would never be the same again. Even as victory approaches, he rails at English society as “mean, narrow and vindictive” and falls out of love with the country of his birth for the rest of a life that was to end in tragic circumstances 25 years later.

Condemned by his critics, reviled by Botham, and often left to flounder by Somerset’s archaic administration, he presents himself as an honourable man who made his choice and forever fretted over the consequences

By the time he wrote his autobiography, , in 2004, Roebuck was able to tell the Somerset story with relative calm. Not so in his diaries, typed out contemporaneously in obsessive detail, complete with scribbled adjustments. Three unseen chapters of a book called have been discovered and placed on the family website. “The truth can finally be told,” is how the family puts it.Roebuck was in his first season as Somerset captain, regarding himself as a more relaxed figure, at 30, than the intense batsman who had written the self-absorbed study of life on the county circuit, *, a few years earlier. That self-ease soon departed. In midsummer he was informed at an emergency meeting of the management and cricket committee that Martin Crowe had been approached by Essex. Crowe was fast becoming an international star and he had filled in handsomely for Richards during his absence on a West Indies tour. He had long been eyed as a future signing.Crowe, Roebuck writes, was “a man of brilliance rare in the game, a man of standards rare in the game”. Roebuck’s yearning to reshape a failing, ageing Somerset side has youth and work ethic at its core and encourages him to support the majority preference on the committee to sign Crowe and release Richards and Garner after many years of loyal service. One wonders how Botham will respond to Roebuck’s allegation in the diaries that Botham viewed Crowe at the time as little better than a good club player.In Somerset, Richards and Garner were far more than overseas players. They were part of their limited-overs folklore, as much a part of Somerset as scrumpy or skittles. As Roebuck, this cricketing aesthete, frets over the implications, he writes in his diary: “Echoes in my mind kept repeating that this Somerset team could never work, could never be worthwhile unless we abandoned the past and began to build a team around Crowe. Our chemistry was wrong. It hadn’t worked with Botham as captain, and it wasn’t working with Roebuck as captain. We’d lose Crowe to Essex.”Botham at the press conference announcing his decision to leave Somerset•Adrian Murrell/Getty ImagesA couple of weeks later, that course of action was confirmed. Sworn to secrecy until the end of the season by a Somerset management and cricket committee of 12, a body which Roebuck naively imagines is capable of confidentiality, he ludicrously seeks to maintain discretion in the height of summer in a dressing room awash with rumour. Out on the field, “smiles hid hatred”. In Roebuck’s version of events, all those responsible for the decision keep their heads down and often fail to tell him what is going on. Rebels soon force an emergency special meeting, and at the end of the season virtually everybody but him seems to disappear for a prolonged holiday – acts, in some cases, of breathtaking irresponsibility. He delays his return to Australia, where he spends the close season, to see the job through.”I was bound to be forsaken by friends,” he writes. “It was all right for them, they were amateurs, committee men, they could leave this club and this game at any moment. It was my living, much more was at stake.”A cerebral and unclubbable man, he is ill-equipped for the task – whether the art of appeasement or politics. Lost in his own thoughts, he reads cricket books, watches movies, takes long baths, and makes impromptu visits around the county in search of understanding. Some imagined friends desert him, some of them quite cruelly, and, for the first time, he is assailed by scurrilous rumours about his private life. Tabloid journalists descend upon Taunton, enquiring about his relationship with the young cricketers he houses on an annual basis. Fifteen years later, his belief in the educative value of corporal punishment was to lead to a guilty plea, to his instant regret, to three charges of common assault against South African teenagers.Roebuck’s insistence that he will not surrender to “moral blackmail” is one of the most revealing passages in these freshly discovered chapters. “These tactics, this moral blackmail, this offer not to tell lies if I will not tell facts, must not rush me into a hasty marriage with attendant car and nappies. Through my life so far, I’ve tried to be as independent, financially and personally, as possible… I fear love for its invasion of privacy though now, at last, I begin to think about it. For the present, I have two lives (in England and Australia), three careers (cricket, writing, teaching), and a variety of ways of keeping the world, though not friendship, at its distance. I don’t care a jot what anyone else does in private, so long as it does not hurt people. I want to help the young, something I’ve failed to do so far in my years at Somerset because I was too involved in my own game to care for anyone else.”

A cerebral and unclubbable man, Roebuck is ill-equipped for appeasement or politics. Lost in his own thoughts, he reads cricket books, watches movies, takes long baths, and makes impromptu visits around the county in search of understanding

The Roebuck family website goes as far as to suggest “a causal connection” between events at Somerset that fateful summer and the manner in which his life came to a tragic end many years later. You would have to be a believer in chaos theory to accept this conclusion without reservation.Another 25 years elapsed before Roebuck fell to his death from a Cape Town hotel window in 2011 while being questioned by police about an alleged sexual assault, which remains unproven. A police statement at the time said that Roebuck, by then a celebrated author and journalist, committed suicide, a version of events that was accepted by a closed inquest, before last month South Africa’s Director of Public Prosecutions responded to family lobbying and agreed to review the findings.In mental turmoil he might have been, but Roebuck required no passage of time to see the mid-1980s as a period when county cricket’s unwieldy amateur committees were no longer fit for purpose, unable to deal with the advent of the celebrity cricketer. It is no coincidence that the mid-’80s also saw county cricket’s other great conflict, as Yorkshire descended into internecine strife over the future of Geoffrey Boycott.”Somerset, a small county area with a small county cricket team is one of the battlegrounds upon which this battle is taking place. It is a battle between old-fashioned standards and celebration of stardom. It isn’t really a battle between management and worker at all. Botham is not a worker, cannot pretend to be a working class hero. In this battle the management and the workers are on the same side. “Roebuck bats in a benefit match for Botham in Finchley, London•Getty ImagesSomerset’s general committee is elderly white males to a man, and when Roebuck goes to an area committee meeting in the seaside town of Weston, where incidentally he finds warm support, he learns that a 26-strong committee has been extended to 27 just because somebody else asked to join. “We must change this old, male hegemony in charge of cricket,” he writes. “A game cannot, in 1986, be run by genial, sensible pensioners. It is frightening how much cricket depends on the tireless voluntary work of old men.”Much has been made over the years about the enmity that grew from this summer onwards between Roebuck and Botham, polar opposites in character and cricketing approach, But it is Roebuck’s fear of Richards’ volcanic temperament that stands out most in these unseen chapters, such as an exchange during a Championship match at Worcester, after Somerset’s intentions are known, a day that begins with Roebuck strolling by the banks of the Severn in search of rural bliss and soon becomes something altogether more tempestuous.”Viv asked to see me in private, so we went upstairs where we wouldn’t be disturbed. For the next 15 minutes he launched a tirade of abuse […] He said I was a sick boy, a terrible failure, an unstable character, someone who should never be put in charge of anything… He said I hadn’t yet seen his bad side and he’d unleash it upon me from now on. During this torrent, I sat quietly, not angry at all though a little startled.”Tensions with Botham are also laid bare. “Botham is trying to form the players into a gang behind him,” Roebuck writes. “He’s shown little interest in these young cricketers on previous occasions, but he is a formidable warrior… If he can’t win them over he’d certainly try to bully them into line.” He even explores likenesses between Botham and Percy Chapman, an Ashes-winning captain in 1926, who “fell into decline, drinking heavily and putting on weight, ravaging his body”. He questions Botham’s desire to be surrounded by like-minded “chums”, not stopping to reflect that he himself was also bent upon building a Somerset side in his own image.”I am not a loner,” he concludes, “rather my preferred pursuits (reading, writing, music) are solitary. I am private, it is true, and enjoy the companionship of my close friends much more than the conviviality of a loud, large group. As for splitting the team, the whole point of this struggle was that it had been split for years.”*09:58:13 GMT, January 19, 2017: The article originally said instead of

Stats highlights from the fifth day’s play of the third Test between Australia and Pakistan at the SCG

Bharath Seervi07-Jan-20174 Consecutive whitewashes for Australia over Pakistan at home since 1999-00. That translated to 12 successive Test wins for Australia and a ninth series loss down under for Pakistan.6 At the SCG, Pakistan lost their sixth consecutive Test and recorded their worst losing streak in history, eclipsing the one in 1999-00 when they were beaten thrice by Australia and then twice by Sri Lanka.60.54 Combined average of the Pakistan bowlers – their second-worst display in a series of three or more Tests. They were unable to take 20 wickets in any of the Tests, with Australia declaring on them four times out of five innings.1.85 Pakistan’s win-loss ratio under Misbah-ul-Haq before these five consecutive losses; they had won 24 and lost 13. The ratio has now dropped down to 1.33 – 24 wins and 18 losses.4 Catches by Jackson Bird in this match, equaling the record for a substitute fielder in Test cricket. He took two in each innings, although none of them would be added to his career tally. In the eight Tests, he was actually in the XI, he has only two catches.9977 Younis Khan’s career tally after the Sydney Test. He was 36 short of becoming the first Pakistani batsman to 10,000 when he walked out to bat in the second innings but fell for 13.0 Five-wicket hauls in this series from either side. This is only the second series of three or more Tests with no-one taking a five-for, following New Zealand’s tour to Pakistan in 1964-65. The best figures in this series was Mitchell Starc’s 4 for 36.2009 Last time Australia won a series, of three or more matches, with none of their bowlers taking five wickets in an innings – in South Africa. Overall, this is their 14th series of three-plus matches with no five-fors.2 Man-of-the-Match awards for David Warner in successive Tests at SCG. He claimed the award in the last year’s New Year Test as well, against West Indies, for his unbeaten 122 off 103 balls. This is his sixth such award in Tests and since his debut in December 2011 only Steven Smith (7) and Rangana Herath (9) have been named Man of the Match more often.228 Wickets for Nathan Lyon in Tests. He is now the joint tenth-highest wicket-taker for Australia equaling Ray Lindwall. Among Australian spinners, only Shane Warne (708) and Richie Benaud (248) have more wickets.